Пётр "Питер" Николаевич Распутин, otherwise known as Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, aka Colossus, is one of the strongest members of the X-Men and one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. That might come as a surprise to some folks given that Colossus hasn't been given the cinematic treatment he truly deserves. Colossus has been a major player throughout numerous events in the Marvel Universe, but given he hasn't gotten his own movie yet, a lot of people outside of die-hard comic fandom don't know much about him.
While he did appear in the X-Men films, he wasn't really portrayed properly until Stefan Kapicic played the character in the 2016 Deadpool film. Colossus was finally shown in his metallic form the way we always wanted, but he wasn't the main event. Fortunately, he will return for the film's sequel so we may get to see some more of him. Because of his being somewhat on the sidelines of Deadpool, fans of the film were left wondering what more there was to learn about this rather large metallic mutant. So, we dug through the books, cartoons and games to uncover some truly interesting (and rather dark) facts about Colossus!
15 IN HIS METAL FORM, HE DOESN'T NEED FOOD (OR ANYTHING ELSE)
When you think about it, turning your body into organic metal is a weird power, but it has its benefits. That isn't just a shell either, when Colossus transforms into his metal form, his entire body changes, and with that change comes some interesting side effects. Seeing as he is made of metal, he no longer requires food, water or even air. Essentially, he is a living statue of metal with no bodily function requirements at all.
This ability has been useful over the years when Colossus needed to fight someone in an underwater lair or survive the vacuum of space for a battle. He has held his form for at least five straight days without every bothering to take a breath or eat a snack (though he does partake in a little cereal in Deadpool). While this seems like a little detail, it's an incredibly useful power, making Colossus all the more exceptional as a member of the X-Men.
14 HIS BROTHER ISN'T ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS
Everyone has someone in their family who is a bit of a black sheep, and Colossus' kin are no different. While his sister, Illyanna Rasputin, is a member of The New Mutants and considered a typical "good guy," the pair's brother, Mikhail Rasputin, is a bit more on the "bad guy" side of things; in fact, he's a supervillain.
Mikhail is a former cosmonaut who served in the Soviet Union before he was believed dead in a shuttle accident. His mutant powers saved his life, but he ended up in an alternate dimension and began to skew evil. After being rescued by the X-Men, he returned to Earth-616 a changed man and became one of the team's recurring villains. Mikhail has served under Apocalypse and led the Morlocks for some time, but his ability to open portals between dimensions makes him a powerful mutant and dangerous adversary.
13 HE ONCE WENT THE FULL JUGGERNAUT
If your only source of information regarding Juggernaut comes from X-Men 3, please delete those memories from your mind. The real character, Cain Marko, is actually Professor X's step-brother and a major player in the X-Men's rogues gallery. His power is derived from a mystical source called the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, which magically provides some killer armor and something of a steroid boost.
During the Fear Itself event, Colossus takes up the Gem and becomes the new Juggernaut. When Marko took on the power, he became unstoppable and one of the strongest people in the Marvel Universe, but he had no initial powers. When Colossus' powers were increased by the Gem to become Juggernaut, his power levels went off the charts and into another chart we don't even have numbers capable of representing.
12 HE'S A SKILLED SWORD FIGHTER AND ACROBAT
There are a lot of superhero characters out there who are incredibly powerful, but lack any fighting skills to speak of. Think of Superman without his powers — he loses the ability to kick butt because he never bothered to learn (luckily, he was later trained by Batman). Colossus is different. He has immense power, but never allowed himself to rely solely on his mutant abilities; that has something to do with being a member of the X-Men.
Thanks to Professor X and the Danger Room, Colossus has trained for years in combat. He has learned to use his abilities in a fight, but also to fight without turning them on. Nightcrawler has taught him some rudimentary acrobatics and swordplay while other members like Wolverine have instructed him in various forms of martial arts. You might think he isn't tough without his steel, but you would be dead wrong.
11 HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO SAVE MUTANTKIND
If there's one thing you can say about most members of the X-Men, they are selfless people willing to do whatever is necessary to save others. Colossus is no exception and he put this trait on display when the Legacy Virus was spread throughout the world. The virus targeted and infected only mutants by causing them to lose control of their powers. Ultimately, the virus killed anyone — it was a doomsday virus for all mutantkind -- but a cure was found.
Beast discovered a cure, but in order to make it work, he had to administer it to a mutant. That mutant would then activate their powers, which would kill them, but spread the cure out into the world. Not only did Colossus volunteer to do this, he broke into Beast's lab and sacrificed himself so no other mutants, like his sister, would die from the disease.
10 HIS STRENGTH IS INCALCULABLE
This one's a bit tricky since it really depends on who is writing the character, but at certain points in his history, Colossus' strength was off the scale. When he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1, written by Len Wein and penciled by Dave Cockrum, he could lift 100 tons. Since that time, the character has been revamped to be able to lift only 70 tons, but that's just the tip of the iceberg with Colossus.
When he was bestowed with the power of the Juggernaut, his strength was impossible to calculate. We already know the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak grants powers of immense strength to a regular person, but for someone already capable of lifting 70-100 tons, his strength-level became incalculable. In this form, he held his own against the Red Hulk and at this level, he is comparable to Marvel's cosmic beings in terms of strength and power.
9 HE AND KITTY PRYDE GOT TOO CLOSE, TOO SOON
When two people associate with one another for a long period of time, it's not unusual for romantic feelings to manifest. Kitty Pryde and Colossus are both members of the X-Men, and for years, it was evident things were developing between the two. There's nothing wrong with that... until you examine their ages. At the time this was going on, Colossus was 19, but Kitty was 13. Yeah, that's not OK. In fact, the Editor in Chief at the time, Jim Shooter, had to put a stop to their budding relationship in the books.
Eventually, the two rekindled their relationship when their respective ages were more appropriate. That's all well and good, but for years in the comics, readers were subjected to a "will they or won't they" scenario between an adult and a young girl. When they finally did sleep together, Kitty became so excited, she phased through the floor.
8 HE CANNOT BE HURT BY MOST MAGICAL ATTACKS
Seeing that Colossus' metallic body is so powerful, it stands to reason he can take a beating from more than your everyday form of attack. While bullets bounce off his "skin" without so much as a bruise, he is also immune to various forms of energy attacks. Electricity doesn't phase him at all and while he isn't completely immune to magical attacks, he can withstand or rebuff most mystical and magical energy assaults.
When he and The New Mutants went into Limbo, it was revealed that due to the transitional nature of his abilities, he was somewhat immune to magic. While there, he demonstrated his ability to disrupt these forms of attack, which has been compared to other metals similar to his in the Marvel Universe. Speaking of Marvel metals capable of deflecting most forms of attack...
7 HIS METALLIC SKIN IS ALMOST AS STRONG AS VIBRANIUM
Colossus's organic steel is classified as being almost as strong as Vibranium. That would make him the third strongest metal in the Marvel Universe, with Adamantium reigning supreme. This is an important distinction because his metal form is not only unique to him, it's organic. Vibranium has several properties making it not only resistant to force. Like Colossus' organic steel, it can also help in deflecting energy and magical attacks.
While Colossus' particular metal falls beneath Vibranium and Adamantium on the Marvel metal scale, that doesn't mean he is at risk from someone like, say, Wolverine. Colossus' steel isn't just skin deep, making him very difficult to cut. Wolverine's claws theoretically could cut Colossus, but Logan lacks the strength to actually penetrate his teammate's skin, making Colossus' metal particularly strong in comparison.
6 HE WAS THE PHOENIX
Life on Earth is never too easy when the Phoenix Force stops by. It upended the life and death of Jean Grey back in 1980 and it returned to wreak havoc among our beloved heroes again in the crossover event called Avengers vs. X-Men. Superheroes tend to come to blows whenever they disagree and that was certainly the case here: the Avengers and the X-Men fought over how to deal with the cosmic entity.
During a battle on the Moon, Iron Man attempted to destroy it while it resided in Hope Summers, but his attack split the entity into five separate pieces. Each piece bonded with a mutant, which included Colossus. With the Phoenix Force split among five people, it was easier to manage so the group bonded together to form the Phoenix Five — taking advantage of their increased power to help make the world a "better" place.
5 HE DOES KILL
For some reason, people tend to think of superheroes as people who would never kill their enemies. This is true of some to be sure, but it really depends on the character. Clearly, Wolverine doesn't mind tearing people apart and it may come as a surprise to learn that the otherwise mild mannered Piotr Rasputin has been known to snuff out an enemy when the need arose.
Colossus' first notable homicide occurred back in 1986 during the "Mutant Massacre" event. During the event, the X-Men went into the sewers to save the Morlocks from the Marauders, who were intent on slaughtering them. When a Marauder named Riptide injured Nightcrawler, Colossus quickly grabbed him and broke his neck without any hesitation whatsoever. Since then, he hasn't gone on a killing spree or anything, but whenever Colossus feels the need to end his enemy, he does so without a second thought.
4 YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MUTANT DOWN (THANKS TO ALIENS)
There's a rule to comic book deaths and it's that they don't really stick. Other than someone like poor ol' Uncle Ben, nobody remains in the grave forever, so when Colossus sacrificed himself to spread the cure for the Legacy Virus, fans were left wondering when and how the writing team over at Marvel would bring him back.
They decided to go with the tried and true means of resurrection: aliens did it. His body was stolen from the planet by an alien called the Ord who hoped to extract the Legacy Virus' cure from his system. It had something to do with a prophecy and mutants destroying everything on their planet, but that hardly matters because Colossus was having none of it. He managed to escape his alien captors and returned to his life as an X-Man.
3 HE SERVED MAGNETO
When he first premiered in the comics back in The X-Men #1, Magneto was established as the X-Men's enemy. He remained their longtime villain for years, but has since developed into a complex character who has run the gamut from simple villain to tragic antihero and all the way into real hero. The guy's nature changes here and there, but with that, so do his allies and enemies.
Magneto and Colossus have been enemies for years, but that didn't stop the metal mutant from teaming up with his longtime nemesis after his sister died from the Legacy Virus. Colossus joined Magneto in the hope of preventing further mutant death going so far as to become one of his trusted acolytes. He served under Magneto for quite some time before going back to the X-Men, but he had to die and be reborn before swapping sides once more.
2 HE IS NEARLY IMPERVIOUS TO INJURY
We already know Colossus is strong and he can handle himself in a fight, but when you get right down to it, he doesn't need much to be effective. Colossus can just stand and take pretty much anything thrown his way. His portrayal in Deadpool went a long way in showing just how tough he is. Granted, in the grand scope of the Marvel Universe, getting punched in the face by Deadpool isn't the deadliest attack, but it did absolutely nothing to Colossus.
Few people in the Marvel Universe can even cut his skin, much less injure him severely. It's even possible he could live forever without reverting back to his non-metallic form given his ability to live without sustenance or oxygen. He isn't immortal and he can be hurt by the likes of Magneto, Rogue and a few others, but for all intents and purposes, he's pretty much indestructible.
1 HE'S GAY
It's true. Colossus is gay... but only in the Ultimate Universe, which is why we threw his sexuality onto a list of secrets about the character. A lot of fans who didn't read the Ultimate line of books never knew of his preference for male companions, seeing as most were already familiar with his on-and-off again relationship with the young Kitty Pryde.
In the Ultimate Universe, Colossus is dating Northstar whom you may already know as the first openly gay superhero in the Marvel Universe. While Northstar's sexuality remains the same across universes, his boyfriend's does not, making the fact that Colossus is gay in one universe, but not the other, an interesting way to depict the character.